


3rd Speaker

by thatchicken_cf (Rainbow_star_tea)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Debating, Fluff, High School, Literal idiots, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-28 02:43:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16232579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbow_star_tea/pseuds/thatchicken_cf
Summary: 11 o'clock writing at its finest - roast your way into getting yourself a boyfriend - not Nakamoto Yuta everDoyoung sees probably the cutest man he will ever see in his life - too bad its on the opposite side of the debating bench





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi um… I feel like my writing has somehow gotten worse! So sorry in advance. Um... i wouldnt usually chapter something that's gonna be this short but i need motivation to finish this and otherwise i will forget. anyways i really wanted to try and write some Kun fics bc UNDERAPPRECIATED FLUFFINNNNN and this was a low key weird au i just finished debating and idk yeah please leave kudos or comments they're always appreciated <3

Doyoung was prepared. He had spent the last 4 years of his life preparing for this day. No one would ever say a thing against him, but Kim Doyoung was a bit of a dork. The reason no one would dare insult him was because for the last four years Doyoung had been waiting religiously for the day where he could finally compete in the impromptu debate senior finals. There was no doubt in his mind or in anyone else’s that he would get there. By his side were the formidable Nakamoto Yuta, who could basically set anyone on fire with his words and Lee Donghyuck, who despite being only a junior was really good at what he did. The three of them were unstoppable. 

It was like any regular Friday morning for Doyoung, coffee in one hand and locker keys in another as he dug through the tragedy that was his locker to try and find his books. He had most of his upper body inside the locker, it was a feat of magic really, when someone started yelling at him. “reckon you could yell yourself a social life, Mr. I only speak when I get points for it?” Doyoung stopped his rustling for a second to listen to the insult. It seemed everyone else in the hallway had done the same. Whoever it was didn’t know, that above all, you do not insult Kim Doyoung. Doyoung nodded his head in resolution and popped himself back out of the locker, standing up and dusting off his trouser legs before pinning his eyes to whoever had spoken. Great. Johnny Seo and his basketball gang, just what he needed. Lee Jeno, Mark Lee and Jung Jaehyun were all standing around him, each of them either snickering or disbelieving that the giant of a man had actually insulted Doyoung. 

“Can you repeat that for me please? I don’t believe I quite caught all the stupidity that was packed into that one sentence,”

There was a collective audible gasp from everyone in the hallway as they watched on with bated breaths. Johnny just laughed and rolled his eyes as if it was nothing. “I said, do you think you can yell yourself a social life, ‘I only speak when I get points for it’?”

“Oh really?” Doyoung paused, eyebrows spiking high into his hair line. “First of all, I do not yell, because people actually listen to what I have to say and because its against the rules, but of course you wouldn’t know what those are you? Do you need some help to learn how to spell it?”

Most of the basketballers were snickering now behind Johnny’s back, there was no way they didn’t put him up to this. “And also, just so you know, I don’t only speak when I get points for it, I just don’t feel the need to talk to people who would, waste, my, time.” Doyoung punctuated each word with a step forward, closing the gap between them. Even with Johnny’s substantial height, he was the one cowering back, the cheeky smile now vanished from his face. Everyone was dead silent until of course, the one and only Lee Donghyuck broke it.

“Mark don’t you think about putting him up to it again, or you will be next.” At the sight of Marks scary boyfriend, the entire group of them started walking away from him, pretending they still had their dignity, offering the younger lame excuses for leaving him at his boyfriends’ wrath. “Don’t think I don’t know that you put him up to it, no one else would dare challenge any of us. Now if you ever want to consider seeing my face again without walking away looking like a thousand-degree oven roasted you I suggest you listen,” and just like that Mark was off too, not before giving Donghyuck a kiss on the cheek goodbye, offering softly that,

“I won’t do it again, sorry hyuckie, see you soon,”

Just another normal Friday day for Kim Doyoung. 

 

“… After all, it’s not every day that students are allowed to make decisions in their hectic lives, so what little freedom we can give them is well deserved, this is why we believe that the moot must firmly stand.” 

There was a few moments of silence after Donghyuck finished his leaders reply and everyone from both sides stood up and shook hands the members of the EXO high team coming over to congratulate them and Doyoung, Yuta and Donghyuck did the same. When they had all congratulated each other they sat and waited anxiously as the adjudicator tallied up the scores, Yuta clutching onto Doyoung’s hands tightly as they stressed over what they did wrong.

“Ugh I can’t believe I mentioned my last point only a minute until the timer, seriously I should have planned out the timing better, there was so much I messed up seriously I can’t believe I had to make Donghyuck continue on my point! I swear if we lose points because of that I will give up on competitive debate and lock myself away to rot in hell.”

“I feel you, I can’t believe I messed up my last section of rebuttal, it was going so well then I just had a brain freeze, I can’t believe I had to pause to catch my breath seriously, how unfit could I possibly be?”

“Hey at least you didn’t have to do leaders reply either of you, and you guys did great; we all did,” they all nodded along sagely to Donghyucks words, both of the older boys glad that they could give the younger boy the role. They continued to bicker friendily over what they believed would be career ending mistakes before Ms. Amber, as she was fondly known by all the debating students, cleared her throat to announce the winners. 

“This was a very close debate,” she started out, eyes sweeping over both sides of the room. “And the debate was very clearly laid out, it was easy to follow along to the argument and there were multiple points of clash and key points that were laid out nicely and addressed by both sides. Over all though,” everyone in the room waited, breath held in their lungs. “I have to give it to NCT college. You had a very clear structure and good points and rebuttal, really very well rounded. The speaker of the day has to go to Kim Doyoung, with Lee Donghyuck in second. Thank you for all coming today.” She got up from her seat and all of the students bowed to her thanking her as she left. Doyoung had a shark like grin on his face that could not be taken down even if someone tried to force it. He promised the other team that they would put the chairs and desks back and the three of them bowed as their opponents left. As soon as that door closed the entire classroom because a swirl of noise. 

“WERE GOING TO SEMI FINALS!” Donghyuck screamed, hugging his two hyungs. The three of them had never been happier.

When they returned to school with the news of their win, it seemed that in fact the teachers were happier than even they could be. They all sat themselves down at lunch break in Mr. Dong’s Mandarin classroom – why he was the head debate teacher, none of them knew. He had heard that they had won and as soon as they walked in he gave each of them a big hug. “I’m so proud of you all!” he said exaggeratedly and handed each of them a steamed bun each which he was apparently supposed to be giving to his next class. “Now I just wanted to meet with you all before the next round to give you a heads up on them, your standard afternoon practices are more than plenty up until then to prepare.”

“Do you know who we’re going against?” Yuta asked, ripping off a strip of bread off his bun.

“Are they good?” Doyoung added. 

Mr. Dong nodded. “You already know you’re going against United College, but I can tell you about their team, and yes they are good. I’m assuming they don’t usually switch around who speaks where, I mean who usually does, let’s be honest. Their first speaker was a scrawny little kid, apparently had quite a raspy accent, he’s apparently amazing at laying out the argument, you all better say your prayers in hopes he doesn’t get affirming speaker.”  
Donghyuck snorted at that.

“The second speaker was, according to every single student who has come out of the debate room after seeing him ‘sculpted by the heavens,’ I should know I was in charge of room distribution one day and these girls wouldn’t stop talking about it. Anyways, its not really his looks you need to be looking out for. When I adjudicated their round he was wearing a face mask throughout most of the debate, I have a feeling he doesn’t want to be appreciated for his looks as much as he wants to be appreciated for his talent. That boy spits out rebuttal like it was a diss rap, seriously it’s amazing how he can just make it flow from one point to another.”

“Why don’t they put him as third speaker then?” Doyoung asked, puzzled as to why this kid was second speaker.

“Because the third speaker is just that good. He looks like such a goody two shoes and makes the entire debate sound like peaceful moves on the chess board, but then he strikes your king in stale mate and he’s got your entire argument invalidated before you even notice.”

“Wow,” was all the three of them could think to say. “How are we supposed to win then?” Yuta finally asked, looking dejectedly at his own steamed bun. 

Mr. Dong quirked a smile. “Oh, all three of you have your unbeatable strengths too. Just keep practice and keep those strengths up, and I promise you there is no change that you’ll be able to eat them alive.”

The three of them all turned to look at each other, and it was only a few moments before they all quirked a smile.

|

The day of the debate finally came and the trio walked in together, arms linked to look like a formidable wall. They separated about half way into the unfamiliar school because Doyoung insisted it was too embarrassing, which of course earned him a good hard slap from both his team members. Doyoung had been separated from his fellow members for barely a second to fill up his water bottle, because hey, no dehydration allowed, when someone ran into him and nearly toppled Doyoung over.

“oh my gosh, oh my gosh I’m so, so sorry, are you okay?” the kind boy asked, helping a disorientated Doyoung stable himself again. When Doyoung had righted himself he was sure he was in heaven, because right in front of him was a fricking angel. Said angel was still resting a hand on Doyoung‘s arm, gripping slightly just to make sure he didn’t go tumbling again.

“Yeah, yeah I’m all right, don’t worry about me,” Doyoung laughed nervously, having to turn his eyes away from the other when his smile proved too bright. 

“Well, I’m sorry, again, for running into you. Right. Um. Well…” the other was trailing off slightly, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

“Um… see you again? Sometime?” Doyoung tried, now gripping his water bottle as if his life depended on it. 

The angel smiled brightly again, letting his eyes crease up into half crescents in delight. “that would be great! See you around!” 

When the boy left Doyoung deflated, letting out a breath that seemed to be trapped like a helium balloon trying to escape. From behind him he could hear the rowdy laughs of his team mates. “Wow, you are so bad at this,” Donghyuck exaggerated, flinging an arm around Doyoung to start to pull him towards the classroom they would be debating in. Yuta was on his other side, patting Doyoung’s back in condolement. 

“It’s alright, at least you didn’t completely freeze,”

Donghyuck hummed in agreement. Doyoung let out a sigh and tried to shake off the nerves, meeting a handsome boy who looked to nice and good for this world, he decided was a good omen, maybe today he had seen an angel and that meant they were going to win, at least Doyoung told himself that, to make the embarrassing encounter seem at least a little bit better. He continued to tell himself that until they reached the classroom they were meant to be in. As soon as Yuta opened the door, Doyoung had to let out the tiniest, most self-pitying, wilted souled, ‘fuck.’

|

Sitting inside that classroom was the boy he had literally just spoken to, and he was smiling again, that smile that could heal everyone in a five-block radius. “Hello again, good to see you,” the other two boys greeted them kindly too, each of them waving a little hello. Mr. Dong had described them almost perfectly, the small guy who had a slight accent and the 2nd speaker who had half his face covered up. In the corner though there was also another boy, none of them realized they knew him until Donghyuck let out a sudden cry.

“Johnny?! What are you doing here?” All heads swiveled towards the boy who was sitting in the corner awkwardly with his phone propped up between his knees. 

“um, Ten’s my boyfriend?” Johnny said questioningly, gesturing to the short boy who had, Doyoung just realized, enough piercings to run a jewelry shop.

“So, wait, your dating someone who does debating,” Doyoung stated, staring the other down, to hell if he was older, or stronger, or could probably ruin Doyoung's nonexistent social life. 

“Yes?”

“But you called me someone who just talks for points,”

There was a flicker of recognition that ran through Tens eyes as he swiveled towards Doyoung, smile lighting up his face. “You’re the one who insulted Johnny and called him out in the middle of the hall!” he said excitedly.

“Yes, I am?” Doyoung said, it was his turn to be questioning now.

“Good on you, I heard you were pretty good too,”

“Hey!” Johnny squawked in protest. “Shouldn’t you be defending me?”

Ten shook his head gracefully. “I know when to not insult someone, not even for a stupid dare,”

Johnny went back to huffing in his corner, leaving the debaters to roar in laughter. All of them took their seats, Doyoung was fiddling nervously with his stack of refill that seemed to always be growing. He absentmindedly ripped off pages at a time laying them out all over his table. He already had some possible points, but he wanted to be prepared. He took the occasion to glance over at the opposition, that funny swirling feeling washing him over. He needed this win though. Doyoung took a deep breath in to calm himself, preparing to speak. Where was the adjudicator?

Just then the door opened and the adjudicator walked in apologizing for being late. He took his seat in front of the teams and organized his notes. It wasn’t a good feeling that took over his entire body now, it was the feeling of pure adrenaline pumping through his veins, knowing he would be speaking soon.

The adjudicator cleared his throat. “Whenever you are ready.” 

Ten from the other team stood up and made his way to the middle desk. It was go time. 

|

Tens speech went without a hitch, his voice was clear and he enunciated all the right points, in essence, he was good. Doyoung really hoped he didn’t mess up. Ten had finished and both Donghyuck and Yuta were writing furiously to his side. Doyoung slid some of his notes to Yuta who in turn handed him a list of what he should rebut. Bless that annoying ass of his. 

Doyoung stood up, the blood draining from his body as he organized all his notes as neatly as possible. It was go time. It was go time. He needed this. “Good afternoon, today is just like any other day for so many people, just day in day out, making their money, making their mark in the world. But still the opposition would like to convince you otherwise. How have they done this? By getting you to try and believe that their way of change is best. We disagree.”

Doyoung finished his speech with a great big breath in, all the oxygen that had left him while he was speaking suddenly needing replenishing. He thanked everyone and each of his team clapped for him, congratulating him. As soon as he sat down though he started writing up the leaders reply; the bane of his existence. Too bad he couldn’t get Donghyuck to do it this time too. Yet again there was a silence only filled with the shuffle of paper and pens scraping their ink in carefully crafted words across the page. The adjudicator called for the next boy. “Ah Taeyong-sshi? You can start now.”

The boy started to take off his face mask before he got up revealing the rest of his face, and those girls hadn’t been lying, he really was handsome. But Doyoung waited, it didn’t matter if he was handsome if he couldn’t do his job. Even Yuta had stopped his writing to see what he would be like and the pair waited in heavy anticipation. As soon as Taeyong opened his mouth and started speak both Doyoung and Yuta sucked in a collective breath. Yuta couldn’t keep his eyes off the other as he spat out word after word. Doyoung had to write his rebuttal for him. When Taeyong had finished speaking both Doyoung and Yuta let out their breaths, making Donghyuck turn to them in confusion.

“Are you okay?” he asked leaning into the pair.

“Oh yeah, but he’s exactly Yuta’s type.”

Yuta turned his glare to Doyoung, pinning him down in anger for outing him. 

“He likes someone who can talk,” Doyoung continued, loving how pissed Yuta was getting. 

“In bed?” Donghyuck finished, continuing to write out his rebuttal. Yuta reared his head to the younger, prepared to slap him to death, only to be stopped by the adjudicator calling Donghyuck up. He satisfied his need for punishing Donghyuck by slapping his thigh under the table before letting the other collect all of his papers. Everyone listened intently as Donghyuck spoke, Doyoung nodding almost constantly as the other presented; as Mark would put it; ‘them good points.’ When he had finished speaking there was a dazzling smile, saying he couldn’t be beat. Doyoung clapped him on the shoulder to show his support when the other slumped into his chair before going back to writing the leaders reply that he had been neglecting. Damn leaders reply. Yuta himself only offered Donghyuck a brief smile before preparing himself to have to write again, the boy *ANGEL ONE* was shuffling his surprisingly small amount of notes on the center table.

“Its Kun right?” the adjudicator asked, looking up at the boy. He smiled and nodded. “You can start when you want.”

Kun nodded again and Doyoung braced himself, he was preparing for him to be good.

“Throughout this debate several key points have been brought up by the opposition.” He turned to offer them a smile. “They have told you that it would be next to impossible to implement anything or any system firmly and fairly. They have constantly tried to slander our proposal with opposing positions, I mean, as they should, but they have neglected to address the one crucial part of our argument. Those in need. Yes, there may be a few hick ups here and there; no system is bound to be perfect, but by doing nothing we are guaranteeing that kids are going without schooling, families are going without food and workers lack the social and economical support the would need to ever do anything bigger. The average person does need more support. And we propose to give it to them. But firstly, we should address some points of clash to get a better understanding of where the error lies.”

Doyoung noticed that as Kun picked up his papers his hands shook a little, but his voice continued to stay steady. He watched enthralled by the other as he set out the entire argument picking up key points and pointing out things that Doyoung as a first speaker hadn’t even caught up on throughout the debate. It was astounding to watch how he did it and still kept his voice so calm that when Kun had finished Doyoung was left in a sort of daze of admiration. He continued to stare blankly at his sheet of paper when Yuta went up to speak, Doyoung assumed, doing it brilliantly as ever. He took the briefest of moments out of his busy schedule of looking at his incomplete leaders reply to look across at the other side. Taeyong was watching Yuta with just as much admiration of Yuta as Doyoung felt and that definitely was a good sign for Yuta himself. Doyoung let his eyes wonder a little further down the table until he let his gaze fall on Kun. The others eyes were already on him and Kun offered him a small smile that Doyoung could barely return without getting a heart attack. Damn stupid fricking nice eyes. And lips. And nose. Anyway. 

Doyoung finally put his head down and tried to actually work on the leaders reply, only stopping because Yuta was ending with his signature smile and everyone was clapping. 

“Great job,” Doyoung whispered when the other sat down, only getting a scoff from Yuta in reply.

“Please, you weren’t listening one bit.”

“Excuse you, but I was being a supportive friend and listening all the way through,”

“No, he wasn’t,” Donghyuck chuckled, placing a few notes on Doyoung’s table.

“Did you at least finish the leaders reply?” Yuta asked, eyebrow raised in skepticism.

Doyoung took the opportunity to wave the idea way as if it were an annoying fly. “No, I think I’ll just improv the last of it,”

“Can you even improv?” Yuta scoffed, earning back in his chair.

“Probably-,”

“Kim Doyoung from the negating side will now do the leaders reply. Remember the speaking time is half the regular speech time. You may start when you want.”

Doyoung pulled up his paper up to the center table, quickly rushing back when he noticed Doyoung waving another paper at him. Apparently the younger had written up the rest of his leaders reply for him. Doyoung quickly mouthed a silent thank you to the other which Haechan pointedly rejected. Luckily it went over smoothly even though half way through he dropped the paper and had to pick it up without alerting the adjudicator that he had moved slightly away from where he was meant to be. Thankfully the adjudicator didn’t look up.

The second speaker, Taeyong, had done the leaders reply too, and had apparently run into the same problem as Doyoung, in having literally written nothing. The boy didn’t even bring up a sheet of paper with him. Doyoung blamed it on Yuta. In that awkward quiet period when everyone usually avoids human noise Johnny came over to talk with Ten and Taeyong came over to Yuta, the pair awkwardly whispering and giggling every now and again, each time making Donghyuck roll his eyes. 

“Alright, this was a very close debate, and by far one of the best I’ve ever judged, but overall I think I have to give it to the negating team.”

Doyoung and Donghyuck let their eyes meet in a moment of confusion. “Is that us?” Donghyuck asked leaning in to ask more quietly.

“Yes it is you idiots!” Yuta almost screamed a smile so bright it could melt space springing to life on his face.

Doyoung had to pause for several moments for any of it to comprehend, and by the time it did he had his own smile spread across his face. The rest of their time in the class room packing up chairs and thanking the adjudicator passed by in a daze for Doyoung, the initial happiness feeling very much like a drug.   
They had decided that if they won they would first run out to the carpark, where it would be mostly empty then scream. The three skipped out merrily Yuta and Donghyuck running as fast as they could, leaving Doyoung momentarily behind when someone caught his eye. Doyoung slowed down, taking the few out of breath steps to turn to the other person.

“Hey… um… can I – ah you were brilliant seriously, your speaking style is amazing,” Kun said, small smile gracing his lips.

Doyoung could feel the heat rise up his neck and to the tips of his ears at the compliment. “Thanks, seriously you were too, like especially your rebuttal,” 

“All of my speech is rebuttal.’ Kun laughed merrily, leaving Doyoung to rub his nape in embarrassment. 

“I guess it is…”

“So, can I- may I-,” Kun started his fingers swirling around the roll of loose refill he was carrying. 

“Yes?”

“I’ll see you around?” The other finally decided on, slowly backing away to take his leave.

“Ye-yeah I’ll see you around,” Doyoung replied, leaving him with a sheepish wave as he walked backwards, spinning himself around so that he wouldn have to watch in despair as the other walked off. One step forward. Then another. Doyoung let out a breath. “Come on you idiot,” he whispered to himself. “you just won a huge ass debate don’t screw this up now,”

“Hey sorry can I-,” Doyoung started turnign back and walkign wards Kun. From here he could see the slim light flecks in the others eyes, a deep hazelnut amongst a dark chocolate brown. 

“Yes,”

“You don’t know what I’m asking yet though, it could be something very unreasonable,” Doyoung arguable, reasonably.

“I trust it won’t be.” 

“Can I get your number then?” Doyoung asked handing his phone over to the other. Kuns shoulders relaxed easily a deeper grin forming. 

“Of course. I was waiting for you to ask. Surprised you didn’t do it in your leaders reply,” he chuckled.

“please, I can’t have a five second leaders reply, that’s just unprofessional,”

“Of course not, I was just suggesting you weave it in there somewhere,” 

“Maybe I will next time.”

Doyoung let a smile out, even though he was told it made him look like some sort of animal and Kun did the same, each of them awkwardly, bashfully staring at the floor between them. But of course Donghyuck ruined it.

He was screaming out of victory, for sure, the only problem was he was screaming at Doyoung himself. “COME ON STOP BEING A SAPPY BOY AND CELEBRATE! THANKS FOR THE GREAT ROUND, KUN SUNBAENIM!”

Doyoung took the moment to glare at Donghyucks ominous outline before dashing a smile towards the other who was just chuckling quietly. “Tell him that I’m not a sunbaenim, I think he’s just digging at me for being older. Tell him he can just call me hyung will you?”

“Sure! Now I’m off to go whip his ass, excuse me, will you?”

Kun nodded, waving shyly as Doyoung ran away, turning only to offer his own wave goodbye before thoroughly preparing himself to give Donghyuck a gigantic whack over the head.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuta's done something regrettable, and Doyoung has to face the 'terrible' consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am first of all, so sorry for explanding this to three chapters and still not finishing it, it is becuase i was not expecting it to be this lognand also i am so so so tired rn. Please enjoy ytohugh even though ifeel my writing gest worse every chapter and most of this is text speak so please bear with me. Feel free to comemnt and kudos, theyre always appreciated <3 have a good day/ night<3

It had reached the weekend before the finals, barely two days to go, and the six of them had created a wholly unnecessary group chat.

Sun flower: Why did we make this… all yalls do is scream

Yu take this: Bc we encourage friendship

: pls live up to your fun name and stop being so shady seriously

:Anyways bad news

Do old: ???????

:????????

:????

:What did u do?????????

Yu take this: Don’t blame me! Ablame Taeyong!

Do old: Don’t pin this on anyone elseeeeeeeee wat did u dddoodododod????????

Yu take this: I was just practicing soccer

Do old: What no

:that is not consistent with anything I know about you

Sunflower: I smell a lie…

Yu take this: Don’t diss my healthy lifestly let me live

Sunflower: you havent played soccar in the last three months because u claim u aint had the time don’t play me boi 

Yu take this: I TOLTALLY HAVE BEEN PLAYING JUST NOT W YOU

妈妈: I would believe that, sorry for butting in, fromw what I know of you but Taeyongs already told me this story and hes reading over my shoulder right now 

:whoops hi its me 

:im texting mow

Yu take this: NO

:DONT

:U

:DARE

妈妈：so as I was saying Yutal and I were WATCHING soccer 

Yu take this: DON’T

: STOP

: NO

妈妈：anyways he cant speak right nw

Do old: SOMEome pls explainnnn 

:WAIT ONLY DO IF PG

1o:whats not pg

妈妈:of course youd come for that

Yu take this: Don’t do this to me 

:pls

:I beg u

妈妈：under usual circumstances I would wilt like a flwoer for u but you gave me a black eye in the process and now I have a very legitimate reason for needing to cover up my face when I go to school, so you need one too

Yu take this: … 

妈妈：we were watching socce, yuta was yelling so hard at the screen his voice cracked then he went to eat a chip and choked, hitting me and now he cant talk

Yu take this: what have tyou done to me

:I knew trusting you would make me weak

妈妈：¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

：too bad

Yu take this: your not getting any for a while bro

妈妈：… I feel uncomforatble with you calling me bro

Yu take this: honey then

妈妈：better

Do old: that is still Taeyong right??????? If its Kun I don’t know how ill feel

妈妈：don’t worry ur bf isnt gonna hit on @Yu_take_this I would not let him

Yu take this: good to no

Do old: good to know

Yu take this: anyways the problem is; Doyoung; I cant debate;

Do old: YEAH BRUH I GATHERED THATTHTHTTHT TTTTTTTTT_TTTTTTTTT

Yu take this: Don’t be angry k ill explain to Mr. Dong tomorrow we’ll fix it up don’t worry but serioudly rn there is no chance I cand ebate sorry pls don’t kill me

Do old changed their username to Do tired

Do tired: … okay… please get better okay and I now have full rights to tell everyone this story k bye.

Yu take this: That’s chill everyone I love has already betrayed me 

TT: TTTT

Yu take this: u brought this upon urself

|

It would be an understatement to say Doyoung walked into the Mandarin classroom tired and dysfunctional. The clock on the front wall of the classroom read 7:30 but Doyoung was sure it was closer to 5 in the morning with the level of fatigue he felt. He’d been practicing speeches on random things for the past weekend and the stress of the prospect of finals had his head reeling more that the unknown topic. Despite it being an impromptu debate and none of them knowing the topic they had still all been meeting up in the mornings and afternoons in Mr. Dongs classroom, even though it mostly acted as a study group rather than a debate team. Whenever Mr. Dong was free they ran short debates for practice, but most of the time he wasn’t there, leaving them to argue mindlessly about some of the stupidest things; the list currently including why they chose blue carpet for all the classrooms, should Yuta try and eat Mr. Dong’s sweets without him noticing, and most entertainingly does Doyoung’s hair look like he swallowed a blue glow stick and its just faintly glowing through from his empty brain cavity. Either way they had less than a day until the debate and NO YUTA. The mere thought made Doyoung stress again. He heard the door of the classroom open again and heard rather than saw Mark and Donghyuck walk in.

“Morning hyung. 1 day to go,” Donghyuck said, waiting until Mark had taken down a chair for each of them, creating a therapy style circle triangle thing with Doyoung. 

“You feeling good? Not stressed about it?” Donghyuck asked as Doyoung watched him hand half a cookie to Mark, which the other adjust shoved in his mouth, eyes opening wide every time he chewed. 

“Nope,” he whined, dragging the word out. “We don’t have enough people to make a team right now and there’s no chance we’ll find an amazing third speaker with a puff of smoke in this school, seriously Donghyuck what are we going to dooooooooo,” He tugged at his hair again. 

“Have you talked to Mr. Dong yet?” Mark asked, seemingly genuinely distressed over Doyoung’s state.

“He’s waiting for Yuta to come in and explain the trouble he got into. It’s his only point of sanity right now,”

The thought on its own managed to put a small smile on Doyoung’s lips. Just then the door opened again.

“Well speaking of the devil- oh wait, whoops,” Donghyuck had started his proclamation as he turned around to yell at Yuta only to sit himself back around when Mr. Dong walked in instead. Trailing behind him was Johnny, whom Mark was the most surprised to see. 

“Hello!” Mr. Dong greeted cheerily, ruffling up Donghyucks hair. He was about to affectionately do the same to Doyoung when he saw the others state of being. 

“Wow, are you sure your going to be alright to debate tomorrow?” he asked, leaning in to take a look at the bags under Doyoung’s eyes. 

“Yes, I’ll be fine, it’s just been a stressful weekend.”

“Oh okay. That’s alright then, as long as we have a full team of living breathing people that’s all that matters. Johnny can you just write up the characters on the board you didn’t know, it’s probably best that I go over them in class with everyone anyway since there’s a chance that no ones paying attention to them anyways.” 

Mr. Dong luckily see the way that both Donghyuck and Doyoung tensed up at the mention of having a full team, but he sure heard Mark almost cackling himself to death with laughter. At the sound everyone looked over at the other sans Johnny, who just rolled his eyes.

“I take Mandarin, get over it Mark,” Johnny chastised, turning to the board to write down the characters.

“What happened to knee how wow shi Johnny,” Mark laughed. Everyone’s heads whipped to stare at Mark, Mr. Dong being the only one to turn and furrow his brows disapprovingly at Johnny.

“That’s why I decided to improve it,” Johnny hissed at Mark before turning to Mr. Dong. “I was meeting one of Ten’s friends but the dude talked to me in Mandarin and that was the only Mandarin I knew at the time, so we end up with this sad story.”

“Ten? Like the number?”

“Yes?” 

“Well okay then. Hi Yuta how are you doing? Have you been preparing?” 

No one had noticed the other come in during all the kafuffle, but the boy was standing by the door, not bothering to take a seat. He looked slightly guilty and smiled at the Mandarin teacher, moving forward to hand him a note. 

Mr. Dong took a few moments to read it over before looking up to blankly stare at the student. “You are joking right? Speak just a bit so I know you aren’t just messing with me. How does this even happen?!”

“don’t” Yuta started before trying to clear his throat. “know. Might have also caught a cold.” Everyone was stunned by how soft and raspy Yuta’s voice sounded, it was even quieter than Jungwoo, the sweet kid that helped out in the library.

“You can’t debate. There’s no way you can debate,” Mr. Dong sighed.

“What can we do about it? Doyoung asked.

“Well,” the teacher sighed, “I’ll just figure something out.”

|

The rest of Doyoung’s say was spent meandering around, trying to listen in class in attempts not to fail. Mr. Dong had sent all three of them an email telling them to meet him after school for a meeting. Doyoung didn’t know whether it would be good news or bad news. In the classes they had together Yuta kept teasing him, writing up little notes telling him that Mr. Dong was meeting them to tell them they would have to find someone randomly on the street, or that they’d have to bribe someone with cookies. At some point Doyoung gave up and started refusing to read the little notes, after all he was dealing with a speechless Yuta; he never thought he would see the day. 

When the final bell had rung Yuta and Doyoung made their way to Mr. Dong’s classroom, after just sharing a chemistry lesson. Mr. Dong had told them he didn’t have a class last period, but they could go right in, as usual. The pair shut the door behind themselves and made themselves at home on one of the sets of tables. It was nice and quiet for once for a good two minutes before Yuta’s phone started to ring. There was a panicked look in his eyes when he answered quickly holding it up to Doyoung, frantically pointing at the phone. When all Doyoung did was back away Yuta just rolled his eyes and pressed the answer button, pressing the speaker button soon after.

“Hey, hello?” the person on the other end said. There was a lot of noise in the background, the chatter of what sounded like students. 

“is anyone there?” the person asked again. 

Doyoung glared at Yuta to silently ask what he was doing. In response Yuta gestured to his throat.

“Ahhh,” Doyoung exclaimed in realisation, taking the phone off his friend. “hi this is Doyoung, Yuta can’t speak right now, but go ahead,”

“Yeah sorry, its um, its Taeyong. I tried sending him a bunch of texts but I guess you must’ve been in class. Anyways this is easier. I’m here now, just at the administrative building? how do I get to the mandarin room?” 

“Oh well, if you face directly away from the student entrance, walk until you see that weird looking curved concrete building then turn left and walk until you see the classroom with the Chinese flag on the window.”

“Okay thank you, see you soon Yuta. Thank you Doyoung!” 

A wicked smile started to creep its way onto Doyoung’s face as he turned to face Yuta. “Were you planning to ditch to go spend time with him?” He asked. Yuta gave him a side glance that told Doyoung he was very much done with him. He stood up and walked over to the white board, quickly writing up his response. 

We made plans to go out after this. Thought he might as well come here from the time school ended

“That’s respectable,” Doyoung supplemented. “Are you just going to make him sit in the corner while we talk?” 

Nah he’s a debater too, so he can help if Mr. Dong lets him then ill ditch half way so we can go

Doyoung snorted. “Okay then, that’s pretty chill, but don’t do any of the nasty inside school like please, no.”

Yuta wrinkled up his nose and shook his head vigorously in protest before wiping the board down and retaking his seat. Moments later Taeyong walked through the door. Doyoung offered a small wave before Yuta practically lunged at his boyfriend, the other suffocating underneath his breathing mask. Donghyuck appeared a few seconds later, panting and sweaty. It was only fair to assume he had just had PE. The poor kid looked exhausted. “Was it a tough lesson?” Doyoung asked, not sure whether he should be filled with concern or joy over the youngers currently frenzied state. 

“ugh usually I have nothing against PE, but right now they’re doing the beep test, EVERY SINGLE LESSON and I cannot emphasize enough how sick of barely being able to breathe I am,” Donghyuck replied, sweeping his fringe back from his hot forehead. Yuta was chuckling at him silently. Mr. Dong still wasn’t there yet, and Doyoung assumed he had gone out to get something but the traffic was bad back. Oh well, he could stand to wait. Instead of using up the precious free time to do any form of homework he pulled out his phone and began texting Kun. The pair had had their own private chat besides the group chat so that they could actually talk properly.

: Heyyy how r u

Angel: Good heheh how was ur day busy?

:Hectic omg so hectic

Angel: was it bc of debate? Have you been practicing?

: Of course I practice lol but yeah I still cant believe yuta got hurt oml, im worried bout him

Angel: aww what a good friend

: not really I can also kick him in the shins if need be

Angel: respectable

Angel: anyways, do you wanna like physically hang out sime time… like I can text u but I haven’t seen ur face since debate and that really is a tragedy

: go on my Instagram them

Angel: oh pls u only post pictures of puppies and food I cannot bee fooled 

Angel: but seriously. If u don’t wanna go don’t worry lol

: NO I DO I LEGIT DO JUST LET ME HUMOR FIRST

Angel: hehehe

: Can we go get icecream near that park u no that one

Angel: anything for u <3

: wow

: that’s so cheesy

Angel: that’s the only thing I can say in this situation mate

: how about ; cool sounds good or great see you then or yeas lets do that

Angel: none of those are romantic, and that is strongly the emotion I am trying to convey here, so as such I am left simply with this option

: aww thanks for trying to make it romantic lol im hopeless at that

Angel: apparently so am I lol

: but pls don’t debate at me im to weak rn youll win

Angel: nah I don’t think so but well see

Angel: see you soon <333  
: wat do u mean well see

: what do you mean, we shall see?

: kun

: kun 

: kun pls

: kun don’t play me like this

Kun still hadn’t replied after a good five minutes so Doyoung let himself slump back into his chair, looking despondently out the classroom window, waiting for Mr. Dong to finally show up. Probably another five minutes went by before the classroom door finally open and Mr. Dong stepped in in all his glowing happiness, bright smile slashed across his face as he greeted the students.

“Hello! I have solved the problem!” his grinned, stopping only after a second when he saw Taeyong. He squinted his eyes for a second to get a better look.

“Sorry do I know you?”

“No, that’s Yuta’s boyfriend,” Doyoung inputted before either could try. Both Yuta and Taeyong flushed in embarrassment. “We versed him last time.”

There was a flash of recognition that passed through Mr. Dongs eyes. “Oh my gosh! I know you, you were that kid, with the mask! Taeyong right?”

Taeyong nodded even more meekly than before. “Oh, good to finally meet you, you could always be of some use. Anyways, I have fixed the problem! I managed to find the list of the semifinalists, including Taeyong, and realized I knew one of them! He’s a good friends, Yukhei’s, younger cousin, the one that comes in occasionally when he’s in Korea to help me out with stuff, you should have seen him when he came in last time. Please be nice to him. Mr. Dong finally moved out of the door way to let the student in, and of course, who else other than Kun. 

“Hi Doyoung, told you we’d see soon didn’t I?”

“Did he choose you because you’re third speaker,” Taeyong asked his team mate bluntly, a wry smile gracing his lips.

“No I genuinely know Sicheng, he’s a good family friend. But yes, also third speaker.” Taeyong nodded sagely.

Doyoung was stills staring at him as if he were a broken machine. Kun quickly made his way over and ruffled his hair. “How you going?” 

“Same as before,” Doyoung replied thickly.

“Hopefully better now?” Kun supplied, holding out a small bag of cookies to the other, the bright stars that filled Doyoungs eyes making the change in attitude so much more obvious. “you are literally an angel.” 

Kun smiled in return.

“Okay no funny stuff this is likely our last proper practice, so I want you all to go over with Kun what he can and can’t do any what you need him to be able to do, hopefully Taeyong can also help keep Kun objective and help Yuta communicate what he usually does. Is that alright with all of you?” 

They all nodded. “I’ll be back to offer an objective opinion, I just need a cup of tea, okay?”

Doyoung waited for Mr. Dong to leave the room before turning back to the group.

“okay, lets have Yuta tell us what he usually does no the white board first and Taeyong can help offer what he usually thinks Kun does while Yuta’s writing so they can go leave early.”

“You mean so we can let them out before one of them attacks the other?” Donghyuck contributed coolly.

“Yes, that is exactly what I mean.” Doyoung smiled, giving the younger a high five.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dooyung + Kun walk home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS FINALLY DONEEEEEEEE
> 
> this was such a delight to write i miss debating so this was sooooo great, anyways i hope it was enjoyable for everyone, even those of you who dont debate. Please feel free to leave comments, kudos, the works theyre always appreciated.

Yuta rolled his eyes in mirth, standing up to start writing on the white board. The rest of them gathered together, most of them eating the food Kun had brought. “Okay, what do you think you can do?” Donghyuck asked Kun directly, chomping down on his cookie. 

Kun rested his elbows seemingly awkwardly on the desk, brows slightly furrowed. “Well I usually put a lot of effort into covering points that were listed but neither of them have done yet, that’s probably the hardest part,”

“Usually we make a list of most crucial points to least and Ten and I go through them and whatever left Kun works into his rebuttal,” Taeyong inputted for clarity. 

“other than that I am pretty self sufficient? I take my own points and am familiar with points of clash, all though I do appreciate what others see as key points of the debate, since everyone's point of reference is different.”

Doyoung nodded along. “How are you with structure, do you plan everything out meticulously? What are your strongest points? Content or presentation?” 

“I usually plan it out, all of the points that are brought up through out the debate I write down if they aren’t contended by the time I get to them or are still a running argument, and I sort them into three main sections, usually the personal affect so say for gambling, if we’re against it I do how it affects those who gamble, then I do communal harm or social harm and if it’s feasible economically or practicality,” 

“That is a good structure,” Donghyuck hummed. “And your style is good too, so its not like we have anything to worry about.”

Mr. Dong walked in then, carefully balancing his cup of tea until he could place it on top of the wooden desk, sneaking around to where Kun was sitting to quickly steal a cookie. “What is Yuta doing on my white board?” he queried, giving the student an odd look. 

“he’s writing up what he usually does as 3rd. Do you have any pointers for what Kun hyung would have to fill in for each of us?” Donghyuck asked pointedly, his full attention turned to the teacher. 

The Mandarin teacher had his eyes down cast, eyebrows furrowed for quite some time until he started talking again, visibly loosening up as he spoke. “Well Doyoung is very good at making points, and usually they are very solid, but make sure you cover his points in the end. Yuta usually summarizes all the points both of them have made throughout the debate before points of clash as a form of rebuttal. What do you think Yuta?”

Yuta gestured to the top of the board for Doyoung to kindly read out for everyone.

“Rehash smaller point as example of a point of clash, they’ll usually focus on rebutting that small point rather than the main point of clash,” 

“Ah yes! Donghyuck exclaimed, seemingly randomly. “I usually get really petty in my rebuttal and usually I can help set up a point of clash for you and since I use that technique Yuta hyung usually just follows it along.”

“Anything else?” Mr. Dong asked, trying to inconspicuously steal another cookie.

“Reality vs falsehood,” Doyoung read out. “What on earth do you mean?” he quickly followed up.

Yuta went back to writing.

Fun, crazy times, unrealistic hopes vs true facts and reality. He then pointed to Kun to see if he had gotten it.

The other boys eyes lit up in realization. Oh I'm much better at the impractical side,its a lot easier to just go on a rant rather than trying to be orderly.” Yuta nodded in agreement pointing to the other out of camaraderie.

“What on earth are you two doing?” Mr. Dong asked, bewildered.

“Well the moot always has the very statistics based side and the hardship there as a third speaker is pulling the stats from the first and second speaker and spinning it to show that you need to be factual and grounded versus just running with the craziest most unrebuttable point possible.”

Everyone let out a small “ahh,” in recognition of what they were talking about. 

“Well that was a productive session, don’t you think?” Mr. Dong laughed, moving back to his desk. “Its probably best if you want to all go home now, I don’t want to over work you before tomorrow. I wish you all the best of luck and I’ll see you again tomorrow!” All the students bid him goodbye, Taeyong and Yuta heading off in their own direction as soon as they exited the school, both of them waving back at their friends. 

“I need to wait here for my parents,” Donghyuck told the remaining Kun and Doyoung as they walked out, leaving their friend standing just outside the school. 

“Bye then, study well!” Doyoung yelled as they walked away from the younger, who offered a teasing shaking of his head as a reply. Doyoung turned back to continue walking alongside Kun. “Where are you going to?”

“I need to go up to the nearest bus stop, I don’t understand why your school is so far away from the one that has my route,” He pouted, the prospect of such a long walk deflating the spirits out of him. 

“Oh is it the one just on the edge of that huge park?”

“Yeah, how long do you think it will take to get there?”

“About ten, fifteen minutes, its right by my house, so I walk past it every day.” He said casually, focusing on aligning his feet one by one as he walked. They walked reasonably quietly, Kun occasionally pointing out random things from the neighbor hood he found interesting. At some point he had taken to pointing at the sprinklers going off in someones lawn, forming a rainbow across the thin sheet of water. 

“Look at that! Isn’t it pretty?” he exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Doyoung's.

“I guess, as long as you don’t get splashed,” Doyoung replied, more focused on Kun's arm now currently wrapped around his own. 

“Why would you be running through someone else's lawn?” Kun asked exasperatedly, squeezing Doyoung's arm slightly out of amusement.

“I don’t know,”

“See there's the problem, you have no basis for your argument,” Kun chuckled turning back to look at the same house, even though they had walked a decent distance from it.

“Okay, okay, you want evidence?” Doyoung said sassily.

“Yeah, try me, see if you can win.” 

“First of all there could be multiple reasons you need to run through someones lawn, you drop something onto their property, you were playing in the street and threw something onto their lawn, your mother tells you to go deliver something to your delightful neighbors. I don’t know what else…” 

Kun took the opportunity to roll his eyes, smoothly slipping his hand into Doyoungs without the other noticing, letting their arms swing between them.

“Oh! They're growing a vegetable garden in their front lawn, it’s a beautiful garden well kept and pretty, and you see these lettuces, they're really nice lettuces. Your incredibly tempted by them, so you sneak over and go take one, but then you crave the lettauce even more so you go and grab another, leading you into a culture of going onto your neighbors front lawn for the sake of lettuces.”

“Why would you be stealing lettuces, seriously?” Kun wondered, completely bewildered by the situation.

“I don’t know that’s what Rapunzel's mother did and she got herself cursed and her daughter named lettuce, you see we all have our needs.”

“But shouldn’t that be a perfect example of why you don’t go onto private property, let alone steal from it?” Kun rebutted as they turned a corner. “After all shouldn’t it be common sense to, if you needed to deliver or get something at least have the courtesy to wait for the sprinklers to go off? Furthermore, if the point was to run through the sprinklers, say on a hot summers day why would I be a problem, as your tone suggested.”

“Or they could have just placed it too close to the side walk and you end up walking past at the wrong time,” Doyoung offered.

“I think I’ll agree with you there. But then again that is probably one of the only justified reasons to go onto their lawn, to move it away from the street.” Kun replied as he ducked under a nearby tree branch, pulling Doyoung down to do the same. Doyoung nodded sagely in agreement

“or to save your friend from the water,” Kun said more quietly, putting more of his energy to swinging their arms between them.

“Or your boyfriend,” Doyoung added. 

Kun turned his gazed to the other and Doyoung did the same. There was a glimmer of a smile that captured every corner of his face, so small that those that didn’t know him wouldn’t notice it.

“Kim Dooyung, would you run into someone elses sprinkler to save me?” Kun asked quietly an equally bright smile on his lips. 

“Qian Kun, if I had to debate against you about how ethically wrong it may be that you were there in the first place the entire time I was running I would do it,” Doyoung replied, absent mindedly pulling them both along their path. 

“Why?” Kun asked. “Because I’m your debating team mate and you need me for tomorrow?”

Doyoung slowed his walking to a halt until he could lean in close to the other, watching Kun's eyes dart back and forward between his own. After several seconds he leaned in just that little bit closer and pecked the other on the lips, a chaste kiss, before continuing to walk at their previous pace. Kun stumbled the first few steps before becoming comfortable with the pace again, walking beside Doyoung, huge grins on each of their faces; a twin set of Cheshire cats. 

“Kun,” Doyoung started a few minutes into their happy silence. “Do you think we’ll win tomorrow?”

“… well if we win, I'll kiss you again,”

“Okay, now the stakes have been raised,” Doyoung laughed.

The pair continued in their silence before Doyoung scooted himself closer. Close enough for their shoulders to press together and for him to lean into the others shoulder, making no objection to Kun slowly smooth down his fringe with his free hand. “If we don’t win, would you still kiss me again?”

Kun froze his movements for a second causing to both stop in the middle of the foot path. A little tiny crease took its place in between his eyebrows as his lips turned into a pout. “Even if I was confined to never doing third speaker ever again in my life and had to learn how to prepare points and do leaders reply for every debate just so I could kiss you again, then Kim Doyoung, I promise I would never not take you up on the proposition to do just that.”

“Good.” Was the only thing Doyoung said before leaning over and pressing another peck to Kuns lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it lived up to expectations tho probs not lol anyways, thank you for reading and sticking with it. hope yalls have a god day/ night/ evening/morning <3

**Author's Note:**

> For those who didint understand a lot about debating this may be helpful, I do use some jargon but hopefully you follow?
> 
> Heres a bit of a run down; speakers – people who speak   
> Rebuttal – trying to convince the judge the opposition are filthy lairs or at least very very wrong  
> Adjudicator – literal judge and jury
> 
> Leaders reply – a horrible little speech that’s supposed to summarize that makes everyone nervous for an extra 3 minutes
> 
> Moot – topic
> 
> And for those who know debate; its probably hell for you all too


End file.
